by Megan Hart
"The plague," put in Fiyero.
"But the ones who didn't die passed on that genetic trait to their offspring. It became the dominant trait. A survival trait. The first time you made love to someone and exchanged fluids, the virus entered your bloodstream, altered the chemical reactions in your brain and bam...monogamy."
"Wow." It wasn't the smartest thing she could have said, but the only word she could form.
"Yeah, wow." Ghislain laughed. "Like I said, you won't read about that in the Xanderran history books. Nobody wants to admit this didn't happen by accident. You've got to go into the jungle to hear those stories, straight from the Esheethim themselves, and even they don't all believe it. What we do know is that we carry the virus and they're immune to it."
"Crazy, half-ass theories," Del said. He'd opened his eyes now. "Nobody knows for sure if they're true."
"And most people don't care," said Fiyero.
"If it's a virus," Linna said, "can't there be a cure?"
All three men swiveled their heads to stare at her. One by one, they began to laugh. Fiyero took her wrist and Del's, put them side by side, and she could see how the lines that made up her name interwove with his to make one flowing design.
"The only cure is death." Fiyero passed his thumbs over their wrists. "And not many people choose that, huh?"
She shook her head. "No. I guess not."
She looked at Del, whose eyes were blazing with a look she knew well. He ran his tongue over his lower lip, and just like that, she was on fire for him again. The inking on her wrist flared, stinging, but the pain was sweet like a love bite.
"Uh-oh," she heard Ghislain say, laughing. "Second stage setting in."
"First comes the happy, next comes the humpy." Fiyero stood up and pulled Linna and Del's arms until they stood up, too. He pointed toward a door she hadn't seen before. "Go on through there, you two."
Del pulled her into his arms, then lifted her and strode toward the smaller room. He kicked the door shut behind them and fell with her onto the bed that took up nearly the entire space. She was too horny to be stunned.
The robe she wore had no convenient stickseam. Del pushed the fabric up around her hips and groaned aloud at the sight of the sheer briefs she wore beneath. Though the panties covered her from hips to thighs, the material was completely transparent. She shifted, opening her thighs, and he groaned again.
In the next second his mouth was on her, tongue stabbing her clit through the thin material. He licked her. The rasp of the cloth on her aroused bead sent her hips jumping upward. Her back arched. She yanked the robe up over her head and tossed it, not caring where it went, only wanting to be naked under him.
"Take them off," she urged, but Del only licked her again. He replaced his tongue with his finger, stroking her clit in a pace too slow for her taste. She wanted to get off now, to scream and writhe. She wanted to come, hard, but he kept teasing her.
"Del, I want you to fuck me."
His head dropped onto her hip and he continued to press gently on her clitoris. Still the orgasm eluded her, danced just out of her reach, making her growl and moan and wiggle underneath him.
"Make love," Del said.
Linna looked down at him, to see him looking up at her. "What?"
He pushed himself upward until he hovered over her, his body weight pressing her down into the soft mattress. How had he gotten naked without her knowing? He kissed her. "Make love. Not fuck."
She smiled. "All right. I want you to make love to me, Del."
"I want to make love to you, Linna. I want to so much it hurts." He licked his lips, and then his tongue flickered over hers, tickling.
"We can't have that," she replied. "Maybe if you show me where it hurts, I can kiss it and make it better."
Del ducked his head and ran his tongue along her jaw before rolling onto his back beside her. He lifted up his elbow. "Hurts here."
She kissed it, taking the time to taste his skin. "Better?"
He nodded and put a finger to his chest. "Here, too."
She bent over him and kissed the spot he'd indicated. It was temptingly close to his nipple, so she kissed that, too. It didn't seem fair to ignore the other one, so Linna gave that one some attention as well. They both stood up satisfactorily, two hard buttons on his smooth, muscled chest. The ring beckoned and she licked him there, too. Then she nibbled.
Del's cock fit her hand just right. Linna stroked him as she sucked and licked his chest. When she let her hand slide down to tickle his balls, she looked up long enough to ask, "Any place else?"
"I think you're touching it right now," Del whispered.
"Kiss that?" She pretended to be surprised. "I don't know if I should. It looks dangerous."
Del's body wiggled with his silent laughter. Linna scooted further down the mattress to look more closely at his cock. She breathed on it first, still lightly stroking his balls. Del's laugh became a groan.
"I mean, you could probably kill someone with that thing," she said. She licked away the small jewel of fluid glistening on the tip of his cock. "And you want me to put that in my mouth?"
"Sheol, yeah," Del said. "Please."
As if I wouldn't do it, she thought with a grin. She took him into her mouth and as far down her throat as she could manage. With Del's perfect proportions, it was no easy feat to make love to him this way, and Linna reveled in the taste of him as she moved up and down on his shaft.
His hand nudged her hip and urged her to straddle his face. At last he tore away the thin panties she'd begun to hate. Completely bare, she let him pull her down toward his waiting mouth, and when his tongue licked her, she shuddered instantly.
His cock twitched in her mouth as she sucked. She was going to come. She couldn't hold back, not now, not with his dick in her mouth and the taste of him filling her, not with his tongue and fingers on her pussy. She was coming, and Del was coming, too, and they came together in a loud, messy tangle of limbs and mouths and sheets.
Somehow, they'd managed not to fall off the bed. Linna blinked. Whatever she'd drunk was wearing off, taking with it the blurry haze, but leaving behind the heat of desire. Her body limp, she rolled onto her back and pillowed her head on Del's thigh.
"After sex like that, I have to wonder if I'll ever be able to do it again," she said.
"I hope you will." Del reached down to stroke her hair. "Maybe later today."
She rolled her eyes, pleased but pretending scorn. "You're insatiable."
Del sat up and lifted her to him for a kiss. "Yeah."
"You're not even apologetic," Linna said.
"Should I be?" He raised one eyebrow.
"No." She kissed him thoroughly, then snuggled into his arms with a sigh that became a yawn. "What was in that drink?"
He didn't have time to answer her. The door flew open and Linna looked straight into the mean end of a gun.
Chapter 15
"You didn't have to arrest us," Del said to his father. "We'd have been here on time."
"Your mother seemed to think otherwise." Noar Tennvic tapped the arm of his chair, face inscrutable as it always was when he thought he was right and Del was wrong.
From beside Del, Linna made a loud noise. "Del's mother needs to take a few steps back."
Noar's eyes flickered, the only evidence of how Linna's words affected him. "Nobody's speaking to you."
Linna visibly tensed, and Del put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from saying more. "Aba, Linna is my behshera."
Noar snorted and flicked his fingers dismissively. "You ran away from home, from your duties and your family, because you didn't want to make a behsherit with someone. Now you come home with this? She's not even Xanderran."
Del kept a grip on his temper. "I didn't intend to come home. We just ended up here."
"Delek, do you think that makes me happy to hear?" Noar shook his head. "The man who takes this seat of power from me must be a leader. He must know his own mind, know right from wrong, and be a
ble to make real, solid decisions. He can't be someone who just falls into things. Or who runs away."
His father's assumptions weren't fair, but then they'd never been. Del squared his shoulders and kept his voice calm, not willing to give the old man the benefit of knowing he was angry. "Vardek is the next Amanrabah. Not me."
Noar leaned forward in his chair. "It should be you. You're the oldest and, despite your poor choice, you are behsherit. Vardek is not. Therefore, this means you're eligible to take his place."
"If I want it," Del said.
Linna squeezed his hand. Del didn't miss the way his father's eyes flickered again, this time focusing briefly on their clasped hands before moving back to Del's face.
"Why wouldn't you want it?" Noar asked. "What has this Offworld zona been filling your head with?"
"Zona?" Linna spat the word.
Now Noar turned his gaze to her. "That's what I said."
"You don't even know me," Linna replied.
Her fingers gripped Del's hard enough to make him wince, something else his father didn't miss. That his father didn't know about Linna's strength didn't make Del feel any better about the look of faint contempt in his father's eyes.
"I don't need to know you. You're not one of us. My son calls you his behshera, but we know that can't be right, don't we? You don't bond."
"That doesn't mean I can't love him."
Noar laughed. "Love? If you say so. But if you really loved my son, you wouldn't try to drive a wedge between him and his family."
"I have nothing to do with any wedge between you and your son," Linna said. "Whatever damage you did to your relationship with him happened long before I came along. It might be easy to point your finger at me for the blame since you don't want to point it back at yourself. But it's not true."
With that, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room. The door slammed shut behind her. Del said nothing, just stared at his father.
"She's got quite a mouth on her," Noar said. "She doesn't seem to know her place very well."
"Her place is by my side," Del replied. "I'm just not sure where my place is. I'll see you later, Aba."
He didn't wait for his father's dismissal. He left the way Linna had, though once he passed through the heavy, carved door he didn't see her. Del headed for the enclosed inner courtyard up ahead of him. He pushed through the curtain of beads and entered the shaded, fragrant space where he paced the groomed grass fast enough to make the flowers bob in the wind he created behind him.
Seven years was a long time to hold onto old resentments. No matter what his father said, Del hadn't run away because he was afraid of his responsibilities. He just hadn't wanted them. He didn't want his parents' life, their dreams.
He stopped pacing. He didn't want any of it. The only thing he did want had stormed out of the room, and he hadn't followed her.
He turned, meaning to find Linna and tell her he wanted to get off this planet. Instead, he found his brother. Vardek nodded as Del stopped short of running him over.
"Saw your pretty lady a couple minutes ago." Vardek glanced over his shoulder. "You know, aysh, I understand why you made her your behshera. She could make a dead man's prick get hard."
Vardek had called him aysh. Brother. Del frowned. It had been a long time since Vardek had called him that.
"What do you want?"
"Me?" Vardek lifted his hands in pretend innocence. "I'm here to call you out."
"Shit." Del ran a hand over his head.
"Talk in Xanderran to me," Vardek said. "Not that Offworld babble."
"Harah," Del said again. "That make it a little clearer for you?"
"Your Offworld slut's given you a dirty mouth. I like that about her. Maybe I'll have to test out that mouth--"
Vardek ducked Del's punch and took two steps back. "On the war field, not in the garden, you idiot! No wonder the other melekim are worried you might take the seat."
It was enough to make Del realize he'd already made his decision. "Keep your seat and your nose up Aba's ass. I didn't want it seven revs ago, and I don't want it now."
"I'll keep my place in the melekim. I'm not worried about that." Vardek smirked. "You've gotten soft while you were gone, Delek. No, I'm calling you out for a sweeter prize."
"I don't have anything you could want, aysh katan." He'd deliberately called Vardek little brother. Not younger. Del looked frankly up and down Vardek's slighter frame. He ran his hand over his head and jerked his chin toward his brother's shoulder-length hair. "Not even a ribbon for your hair."
Vardek's grin vanished. "You have something I want."
"Oh, yeah?" Del put his hands on his hips and waited.
"Sure you do, aysh gadol." Big Brother. "Her name is Linna."
Linna watched Del as he lifted the lid of the trunk and began to sort through the items inside. "You don't have to do this."
He barely spared her a glance. "Yes, I do."
Linna chewed her lip and leaned against the dresser next to him. "Because he challenged you?"
He must have found what he was looking for because he lifted a shield and a long, wide bolt of material out of the trunk. The cloth was just the wrapping for something inside, and Linna couldn't hold back a gasp when he pulled out the blade. It was as long as his forearm with a hilt and handle made from ebony wood inlaid with carving and gems.
Del stood, hefting the weapon in one hand. She'd seen a lot of different smiles on his face in the time they'd known each other. Sexy. Mocking. Sarcastic. Wistful. She'd never seen an expression quite like this one.
"You look like you've just found your best friend."
He tore his gaze away from the sword long enough to look at her. "In a way, I guess I did. This sword was the first I ever bought myself. It's the one I took on my youth quest. I put it away when I left and I never thought I'd see it again. I'm surprised Vardek didn't steal it. It's probably too big for him."
"I always wished I had a sibling." Linna watched Del polish the still-bright metal. His fingers caressed it as lovingly as if it were a woman...as if it were her. "Don't you love your brother?" she asked.
Del looked up, startled. "Of course I do."
"Then why are you going to fight him?"
"He called me out. If I don't take his challenge..."
"What?" she asked. "What will happen if you don't take his stupid challenge?"
He lifted the sword in his hand. Hefted it. Turned the blade over and over so it caught the light and made the jewels sparkle. "I have to do this, that's all."
Del looked over, and for one moment Linna was filled with a rush of emotion so strong it physically hurt. She winced and put a hand to her chest. Pre-occupied with his new toy, Del didn't notice.
"Del."
He made a sound of response but didn't look up from his polishing of the blade. He ran his hands along the shining metal and the hilt, whirled it a few times as though testing its weight, and rubbed it again with the cloth.
"Do you want to take your brother's place in the Council?"
Now he looked up. "No."
Linna made certain she had his attention before she spoke. "Then why are you doing this?"
"Why are you trying to talk me out of it?"
Linna reached to touch one of his scars. "Because I don't want you to get any more of these."
"These are a part of me."
"I know that." She let her hand run down his arm to the hand not holding the sword. "But surely you can understand that I don't want you to get hurt."
He snorted. "I won't get hurt. Not badly hurt anyway."
"Your brother is stronger than you think," Linna told him. "And he wants this more than you do. Why not just let him have it?"
Del's brow furrowed. "This isn't just about the Council seat."
"What's it about?"
He sighed. "It's about you."
That made a surprised chuckle leap out of her. "Me? Why on earth should it be about me?"
Del put the sword
down carefully and took her in his arms. "Vardek challenged me for you."
Now real laughter burst from her throat. "Please. That is so ridiculous!"
Del wasn't laughing. "He thinks because you're not behsherit to me, he can have you, too."
Linna made a noise of contempt. "I don't want your brother. And even if you win this stupid challenge, nothing and nobody can make me want him. Del, you can't believe I'd possibly want to be with your brother. Do you?"
"If I don't meet his challenge," Del answered slowly, "then not only my honor will be shamed. Yours will, too. A woman's status on Xanderra is linked to the status of her behsherat, or to her father if she doesn't have one. If I don't take the challenge, or if I lose it, you'll be shamed."
It was positively medieval, but sweet all the same. "You're doing this for me?" Linna turned her head to press her cheek against his bare chest. His warm skin soothed her. The beat of his heart thumped under her cheek. "That's very romantic."
Del snorted again and put squeezed her. "That's me, all right."
"But if you win, don't you have to take the seat?"
"Everyone will expect me to. Sheol, I'm sure everyone expected me to challenge Vardek for it, even though I'm the one who gave it up."
Linna let the scent of him fill her nostrils as she snuggled closer to him. "I don't think anyone here would consider me the ideal political wife. I've been one before, you know. I didn't really like it then either."
"Don't worry about that." His hand stroked down her back and found the curve of her ass. "I won't change."
Linna wasn't so sure she believed that. She looked over at the sword and the shield, weapons she'd never even seen outside of old viddy stories. Holding them, Del looked like an ancient gladiator. He looked like a warrior.
"Your planet's not too accepting of intermarriage, is it?"
"Not really. No."
"And your mother hates me."
He chuckled. "My mother hates a lot of people. Don't take it personally."
"She told me I was an uncivilized slut who used what I had between my legs to get you to obey me." Linna rolled her eyes. "Your parents have a really high opinion of you, don't they?"